


Thought I Wanted

by LBibliophile



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Denial, Disillusionment, Estrangement, Family, Gen, Ministry of Magic, Misplaced Loyalty, Self-Reflection, Work Versus Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-07 16:47:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11063076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LBibliophile/pseuds/LBibliophile
Summary: "You got what you wanted, but lost what you had."Percy never thought he would have to choose between his family and his career, but then the Tournament happened and Harry Potter started claiming He Who Must Not Be Named is back. So he made his choice, and hoped his family would come to see reason. Some days, he thinks he chose wrong.





	Thought I Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> You got what you wanted, but lost what you had  
> Thought you'd be happy, yet find yourself sad  
> To think work is enough, you must have been mad  
> For nothing compares to the family you had

Percy looks at the clock. It seems he worked overtime again. It's been happening more and more often over the last few months, and has become noticeable enough to make the rounds of the rumour mill. It is not that he is overworked, after all. While he is busy, it is nothing that can't wait, and the paperwork is certainly not gripping enough to inspire such additional effort. The current theory – given his past reputation – is that he is doing it to try and suck up to his boss. He snorts; hardly likely. While once it would have been true, he is learning better. Why bother, when Fudge barely knows who he is? He is only glad that at least this time he is Weasley not Weatherby, although he has a sneaking suspicion that the improvement is due only to his links with his father.

No, the real reason is he simply doesn't want to go home. What is the point when it just means returning to an empty flat? No Dad, to share stories from work or advice. No Mum, to force-feed him her amazing cooking. No twins, to make him smile with their jokes and pranks, even if he is the butt of them more often than not. No Ron, to play chess with after dinner. No Ginny, to trade fiction books. It's not that he misses the Burrow, as such – he is quite happy to final have his own space – but rather how he left. He is not truly welcome there anymore.

He frowns. It is all comes down to Harry Potter. He seemed like such a nice kid, if a bit of a trouble-magnet, yet it appears that the tournament went to his head. Really, claiming You-Know-Who is back! At first he actually almost believed him – it was not so impossible given his track record – but the Minister quickly put him straight. And he is quite right; You-Know-Who died that night in '81, it is preposterous to assume that he could be back. Yet his parents refuse to listen to reason. Not only that, they convinced his younger siblings too – although, come to think of it, given their friendship with Potter it is quite possible the convincing went the other way. Even Bill, the brother he has spent his whole life looking up to has joined their secret Order. Charlie is only neutral because he is still out of the country, and even he is unwilling to help convince them of the truth.

He sighs as he tidies the desk and rises to grab his cloak. When he graduated Hogwarts, this was not how he imagined his life turning out. Oh, he has his dream job – a secure Ministry position, in the Minister's own office even, with the potential to move higher – but it is less than he expected. The work is tedious and repetitive, pointless in the way only bureaucracy can be. His co-workers sneer at him behind his back, while his boss only acknowledges him when giving orders or asking for information on his family. He had thought his father would be proud, yet when they cross paths his eyes show only disappointment.

He has the job he wanted, but some days, he would give it all up just to have back the family he had.


End file.
